Re: [asa] God as Cause

*> In what sense is God the cause of all natural processes?
>
> Is there a causal link between God and natural processes?*

I think this passage from a essay on Aquinas' understanding of creation is
helfpul (http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/science/sc0035.html),
particularly this at the end: *"the differing metaphysical levels of primary
and secondary causation require us to say that any created effect comes
totally and immediately from God as the transcendent primary cause and
totally and immediately from the creature as secondary cause."* :

Aquinas shows us how to distinguish between the being or existence of
creatures and the operations they perform. God causes creatures to exist in
such a way that they are the real causes of their own operations. For
Aquinas, God is at work in every operation of nature, but the autonomy of
nature is not an indication of some reduction in God's power or activity;
rather, it is an indication of His goodness. It is important to recognize
that divine causality and creaturely causality function at fundamentally
different levels. In the Summa contra Gentiles, Aquinas remarks that "the
same effect is not attributed to a natural cause and to divine power in such
a way that it is partly done by God, and partly by the natural agent;
rather, it is wholly done by both, according to a different way, just as the
same effect is wholly attributed to the instrument and also wholly to the
principal agent."(21) It is not the case of partial or co-causes with each
contributing a separate element to produce the effect. God, as Creator,
transcends (22) the order of created causes in such a way that He is their
enabling origin. Yet the "same God who transcends the created order is also
intimately and immanently present within that order as upholding all causes
in their causing, including the human will." For Aquinas "the differing
metaphysical levels of primary and secondary causation require us to say
that any created effect comes totally and immediately from God as the
transcendent primary cause and totally and immediately from the creature as
secondary cause."

On 1/10/07, Bill Green <wgreen82004@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks for all of your input, floks, but I remain confused about the
issue.
>
> In what sense is God the cause of all natural processes?
>
> Is there a causal link between God and natural processes?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bill Green
>
> ________________________________
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